Death of a Friend
by Tiger of the Snow
Summary: Hinata has been returned to the village, dead. Naruto is given her diary by her teammates. Will he learn of Hinata's feelings? And what will happen when Tsunade claims that Hinata isn't dead? Story might change a bit; reviews welcome.


I don't own Naruto

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Kurenai, Shino, Kiba, and Akimaru slowly walked through Konoha's main gate. They had just finished a mission, but it hadn't gone exactly like they had hoped. The result of the mission had been laid on a roughly made cart which Akimaru now pulled along. A bundle of blankets wrapped around an object that was the length of a human height wise was the cart's cargo. Before the team had started their return trip, they had sent a letter by way of a messenger hawk to Tsunade, who then sent the letter to the Hyuuga clan. In it were three simple words:

"Hinata is dead."

The whole Hyuuga clan, as well as any friends of Hinata, met Team Kurenai in front of the Hyuuga compound. Only Tsunade didn't show up, she had sent a second letter saying that she would be late. Nobody said anything until Shino pulled out a small notebook from one of his pockets and walked over to Naruto.

"We've known Hinata long enough to know that she would want you to have this," Shino said, indicating his team.

Naruto took the notebook as memories overtook his mind. The first part of the Chuunin exam where Hinata offered her paper with her answers to him; the third part of the Chuunin exam where she gave him the medical ointment; the mission for the scent bug in which Naruto had joined Hinata and her team, and where Hinata had saved everyone from the Rock village ninjas; countless other memories bombarded Naruto's mind.

Naruto then fled before anybody saw his tears. He ran until he was back at his apartment, but he didn't go inside. Instead, he scaled the building, finally stopping to sit down at the top of the building. Only then did he open the notebook. On the first page, in Hinata's handwriting, was the single word:

My Diary.

Back in front of the Hyuuga compound, Tsunadae had just arrived and asked if she could view Hinata's body.

"Old medical habit," she said.

Kiba pulled the cover off of Hinata and Tsunadae began to examine the lifeless body, but she quickly stopped and turned and whispered something to Shizune who quickly ran off in the direction of the Hokage building. Tsunadae then turned to Hyuuga Hiashi and said, "She's not dead, yet. She's been poisoned; by the looks of it, it could have been a snake or maybe a bug sting that she could be allergic to. By the looks of it, she probably closed her own chakra points in an attempt to slow the progress of the poison. As soon as Shizune gets back, I can start to work out an antidote."

Back on top of his apartment, Naruto flipped open the diary. The first entrée was back in the ninja academy where Hinata had explained about having met everybody for the first time, especially Naruto. Unsure about why he was mentioned so many times, he kept reading. Eventually, he came across the last entrée, the day of Hinata's last mission. Naruto started reading.

'Dear Diary, we are going on another mission today. It's a low ranked mission so we shouldn't have any trouble. As we left the village, I talked with Kurenai-Sensei about several things. The two of us somehow got onto the subject of the rate of death for ninja. She said that in her days, a ninja my age would be lucky to make it into adulthood. I started to get worried, but she explained that the survival rate had drastically gone up since then. I feel more secure now, but I still can't shake this odd feeling that something bad will happen sooner or later. This feeling scares me, but it also inspires me. It makes me want to get stronger so that I can help others more, and it also makes me want to tell HIM how I feel. I now realize that I don't want to just stare at him all the time, I want to be WITH him. I want him to know that. I want Naruto to know that I love him.'

Naruto reread the last sentence over and over uncertain if he had read it correctly. He suddenly felt moisture slide down his face and fall onto his hand. He let the tears come forth much like the feelings he now felt towards Hinata.

Several people appeared behind Naruto but he didn't bother to turn around. Several of them spoke to him, but he didn't bother to listen. He then heard Hinata's name mentioned. He closed the diary and stood. Everybody became silent as he started to speak.

"She loved me," he said to himself more than anybody else. "She was going to tell me that she loved me when she returned from the mission. Now she'll never get that chance, and I'll never get the chance to tell her that I feel the exact same way towards her. I'll never be able to hold her in my arms and tell her that I love her."

There was a small, familiar gasp from behind him after he said this. Then, a familiar, whisper-like voice spoke his name. Naruto turned at the sound of his name and found Hinata standing there, although she was being held up by Kurenai and Kiba. Kurenai suggested that Hinata and Naruto be given some privacy, then whispered something in Hinata's ear that made Hinata blush. Several minutes after everybody had left, and after his shock of finding Hinata alive had lessened, Naruto walked over to Hinata and lifted her up in a hug. For the first time ever, Hinata didn't pass out from embarrassment. Instead, she hugged Naruto back, tightly.

"I thought you were dead," Naruto said, trying as hard as he could not to cry.

"I'm sorry I worried you," replied Hinata silently. When Naruto had finally let go of HInata, she asked, "Did you really mean all of what you said about how you feel towards me?"

Naruto didn't say anything. Instead, he bent forward and kissed Hinata, whose eyes lit up and whose face turned red. When their lips separated, he asked, "Does that answer you question?"


End file.
